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1919 American League salaries

In Eight Men Out, author Eliot Asinof wrote about the 1919 Chicago White Sox: “Many players of less status got almost twice as much on other teams. … (Charles Comiskey’s) ballplayers were the best and were paid as poorly as the worst.” This passage sums up the entire foundation of Asinof’s thesis: Low salaries and poor treatment by management are now widely considered to be the driving forces behind the White Sox players’ decision to fix the 1919 World Series. But the actual salary numbers tell a very different story. The White Sox were not among the worst-paid teams in baseball; in fact, they were one of the highest paid.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York, holds a collection of thousands of organizational contract cards that were provided to the Hall by Major League Baseball in 2002. As researcher Bob Hoie notes, these cards, which go back to the 1912 season, “contain salary, bonus payments, and any modifications to the standard contract covering each season (of a player’s career).” Although many other numbers have been tossed around by historians in the past, we can now say with certainty how much the Black Sox players were paid – and how much their teammates and peers were paid, too. The comparison helps shed light on whether any of the Chicago players had a legitimate reason to grumble about their salaries, at least any more than other teams around the league.

Hoie, with the help of fellow researcher Mike Haupert, analyzed the contract cards for a landmark 2012 article in Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game on major-league salaries in 1919. Hoie discovered that the 1919 White Sox had one of the highest team payrolls in the major leagues; at $88,461, it was more than $10,000 higher than that of the National League champion Reds’ $76,870, which would have ranked sixth in the American League.

As has been well documented, the White Sox team payroll was extremely top-heavy and the player with the biggest bankroll was future Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins. Collins’s $15,000 salary placed him number 2 among American League players behind only Ty Cobb at $20,000. The college-educated Collins, nicknamed “Cocky” and for good reason, wasn’t well liked by some of his teammates. Perhaps this included a sense of jealousy at his high salary. Indeed, Collins’s salary was nearly double that of anyone else on the team. But that wasn’t unusual in 1919: In Detroit, Cobb was making three times as much as any other Tiger and Cleveland’s Tris Speaker ($13,125) was also making twice as much as the next-highest-paid Indian.

But even if Collins’s salary was out of line with those of the rest of the team, the other White Sox stars were paid comparatively well, according to the Hall of Fame contract cards. Four other Chicago players ranked among the top 20 highest-paid players in the American League, including World Series fixers Eddie Cicotte ($8,000, number 8 in the AL), Buck Weaver ($7,250, number 11), and Shoeless Joe Jackson ($6,000, number 15). Another future Hall of Famer, catcher Ray Schalk, was the 13th-highest-paid player in the league at $7,083.

Eddie Cicotte’s salary deserves a closer look. The White Sox ace earned $8,000 in 1919 – which included a $5,000 base salary and a $3,000 performance bonus that Hoie says was a carryover from his 1918 contract (but unrelated to the mythical bonus “promised” to Cicotte if he won 30 games; that story is discussed elsewhere in this book). That also doesn’t include an additional $2,000 signing bonus paid to Cicotte before the start of the 1918 season, for a total compensation of $15,000 in 1918 and ’19. When he signed his contract, Cicotte had only one truly outstanding season (1917) to his credit. But he was the second-highest-paid pitcher in baseball behind the Washington Senators’ Walter Johnson, who had a much stronger track record. To put this in comparison, Eliot Asinof reported in Eight Men Out that Cincinnati Reds pitcher Dutch Ruether was “getting almost double (Cicotte’s) figure.” Ruether, whose sterling 1.82 ERA in 1919 matched Cicotte’s regular-season figure, was actually making $2,340. Talk about underpaid!

White Sox owner Charles Comiskey

The rest of the players who would later be banned in the Black Sox Scandal had little reason to squawk about salaries, either, at least compared with other players at their positions and experience level — and especially coming off a 1918 season in which the White Sox finished in sixth place. For instance, Chick Gandil’s $3,500 salary was fifth-highest among AL first baseman, and the four players ahead of him were far superior in talent: George Sisler (Browns), Stuffy McInnis (Red Sox), Wally Pipp (Yankees), and Joe Judge (Senators). Happy Felsch, an emerging star center fielder, might have felt disgruntled that Cobb and Speaker were making so much more than his $3,750, but he had only four seasons under his belt entering 1919. The only other center fielders with higher salaries, Clyde Milan (Senators) and Amos Strunk (Red Sox), had been in the league since 1907 and ’08, respectively.

Now that we have accurate salary information for all players in 1919, it’s hard to make the case that the Chicago White Sox were underpaid. There were many reasons that the eight Black Sox might have agreed to fix the World Series, but it wasn’t because they were being paid so much less than other major leaguers of equal or lesser talent.

Eliot Asinof, along with many writers before and after him, long insisted that the White Sox had the best talent and the worst payroll. But that claim just doesn’t stand up to modern scrutiny. With few exceptions, owner Charles Comiskey – long portrayed as a greedy miser and a villain in the Black Sox story – paid salaries that were comparable, and in many cases even favorable, to the rest of the league. The numbers bear that out.

American League Opening Day team payrolls, 1919

Boston Red Sox, $93,475

New York Yankees, $91,330

Chicago White Sox, $88,461

Detroit Tigers, $81,433

Cleveland Indians, $78,913

St. Louis Browns, $63,000

Washington Senators, $63,000

Philadelphia A’s, $42,000

(Note: These figures are Opening Day payrolls and do not include any performance bonuses paid later in the season. According to Hoie, if you include total salary payouts plus earned bonuses at the end of the season, the White Sox ended up with the top payroll in the major leagues for 1919, $10,000 more than the Red Sox, who began dumping salaries as soon as it became apparent they weren’t going to repeat as AL champions.)

Top American League player salaries in 1919

Ty Cobb, DET, $20,000

Eddie Collins, CHW, $15,000

Tris Speaker, CLE, $13,125

Frank Baker*, NYY, $11,583

Babe Ruth, BOS, $10,000

Walter Johnson, WSH, $9,500

Harry Hooper, BOS, $9,000

Eddie Cicotte**, CHW, $8,000

Carl Mays, BOS/NYY, $8,000

Roger Peckinpaugh, NYY, $7,500

Buck Weaver, CHW, $7,250

George Sisler, SLB, $7,200

Ray Schalk, CHW, $7,083

Dutch Leonard, DET, $6,500

Del Pratt, NYY, $6,185

Joe Jackson***, CHW, $6,000

Bob Shawkey, NYY, $6,000

Ernie Shore, NYY, $6,000

Ray Chapman, CLE, $6,000

Donie Bush, DET, $5,500

American League player salaries in 1919, by position

First base

George Sisler, SLB, $7,200

Stuffy McInnis, BOS, $5,000

Wally Pipp, NYY, $5,000

Joe Judge, WSH, $3,675

Chick Gandil, CHW, $3,500

Harry Heilmann, DET, $3,500

George Burns, PHA, $2,625

Doc Johnston, CLE, $2,500

Second base

Eddie Collins, CHW, $15,000

Del Pratt, NYY, $6,185

Jack Barry, BOS, $4,500

Dave Shean, BOS, $4,000

Joe Gedeon, SLB, $3,675

Bill Wambsganss, CLE, $3,500

Ralph Young, DET, $3,500

Hal Janvrin, WSH, $2,625

Whitey Witt, PHA, $2,362

Shortstop

Roger Peckinpaugh, NYY, $7,500

Ray Chapman, CLE, $6,000

Donie Bush, DET, $5,500

Everett Scott, BOS, $5,000

Howie Shanks, WSH, $3,400

Swede Risberg, CHW, $3,250

Wally Gerber, SLB, $2,365

Joe Dugan, PHA, $2,100

Third base

Frank Baker, NYY, $11,583

Buck Weaver, CHW, $7,250

Larry Gardner, CLE, $5,000

Ossie Vitt, BOS, $4,500

Jimmy Austin, SLB, $3,675

Eddie Foster, WSH, $3,675

Fred McMullin, CHW, $2,750

Bob Jones, DET, $2,500

Fred Thomas, PHA, $2,100

Left field

Babe Ruth, BOS, $10,000

Joe Jackson, CHW, $6,000

Duffy Lewis, NYY, $5,500

Bobby Veach, DET, $5,000

Jack Graney, CLE, $4,000

Mike Menosky, WSH, $2,650

Jack Tobin, SLB, $2,500

Merlin Kopp, PHA, $2,400

Center field

Ty Cobb, DET, $20,000

Tris Speaker, CLE, $13,125

Clyde Milan, WSH, $5,000

Amos Strunk, BOS $4,800

Happy Felsch, CHW, $3,750

Tillie Walker, PHA, $3,750

Ping Bodie, NYY, $3,600

Baby Doll Jacobson, SLB, $1,969

Right field

Harry Hooper, BOS, $9,000

Joe Wood, CLE, $4,400

Braggo Roth, PHA/BOS, $4,200

Chick Shorten, DET, $3,200

Sam Rice, WSH, $3,150

Nemo Leibold, CHW, $2,650

Shano Collins, CHW, $2,625

Elmer Smith, CLE, $2,625

Ira Flagstead, DET, $2,500

Sammy Vick, NYY, $2,000

Earl Smith, SLB, $1,594

Catcher

Ray Schalk, CHW, $7,083

Steve O’Neill, CLE, $5,000

Oscar Stanage, DET, $4,500

Wally Schang, BOS, $4,500

Hank Severeid, SLB, $3,750

Sam Agnew, WSH, $3,675

Eddie Ainsmith, DET, $3,500

Truck Hannah, NYY, $3,000

Val Picinich, WSH, $2,750

Muddy Ruel, NYY, $2,700

Patsy Gharrity, WSH, $2,100

Cy Perkins, PHA, $1,890

Pitcher

Walter Johnson, WSH, $9,500

Eddie Cicotte, CHW, $8,000

Carl Mays, BOS/NYY, $8,000

Dutch Leonard, DET, $6,500

Bob Shawkey, NYY, $6,000

Ernie Shore, NYY, $6,000

Bullet Joe Bush, BOS, $5,700

Sam Jones, NYY, $5,000

Jim Shaw, WSH, $5,000

Jack Quinn, NYY, $4,850

Red Faber, CHW, $4,000

Stan Coveleski, CLE, $4,000

Ray Caldwell, BOS/CLE, $4,000

Pete Schneider, NYY, $4,000

Guy Morton, CLE, $4,000

George Mogridge, NYY, $3,800

Allan Sothoron, SLB, $3,625

Carl Weilman, SLB, $3,625

Hooks Dauss, DET, $3,600

Johnny Enzmann, CLE, $3,600

Jim Bagby, CLE, $3,600

Hooks Dauss, DET, $3,600

Lefty Williams****, CHW, $3,500

Notes

* Frank Baker’s salary includes a $1,000 performance bonus paid to him after the season.

** Eddie Cicotte’s salary includes a $3,000 performance bonus paid to him after the season, a carryover agreement from his 1918 contract. According to Bob Hoie, “this was apparently a verbal agreement, but it shows up in the White Sox ledgers presented during the criminal trial in 1921.”

*** Joe Jackson’s salary includes a $750 bonus paid to him for being “a member in good standing” of the White Sox at the end of the season, undoubtedly due in part to his abrupt departure in 1918. His $1,000-per-month contract normally earned him $6,000, but because of the shortened season in 1919, he was only due to make $5,250 instead. Comiskey made it up to him with an extra $750 after the season.

**** Lefty Williams’s salary includes a $375 performance bonus for winning 15 games and an additional $500 bonus for winning 20 games, both of which he earned in 1919.

Following the 1919 World Series, White Sox owner Charles Comiskey began investigating rumors into what would become known as the Black Sox Scandal. However, as the 1920 season approached, neither the team nor the American League took any action against the players involved. When it came time to offer his players new contracts for the upcoming year, the White Sox owner was “exceedingly generous,” in the words of historian Gene Carney.

Happy Felsch: $7,000, a raise of $3,250 from his 1919 salary. He had signed a three-year deal for $3,750 per year in 1917. The expiration of that contract and Felsch’s burgeoning stardom on the field meant he was overdue for a raise.

Chick Gandil: He was offered a contract by the White Sox, but did not report to the team in 1920. He was suspended indefinitely by Comiskey in mid-April for failing to sign a contract.

Joe Jackson: $8,000, a raise of $2,000 from his 1919 salary. After originally demanding $10,000 per season, Jackson signed a new three-year deal in the offseason. The details on when and how Jackson signed the contract were later disputed in the player’s civil lawsuit against the White Sox for back pay. The illiterate Jackson claimed he was pressured into signing the deal by GM Harry Grabiner without his wife Katie looking at the contract first.

Fred McMullin: $3,600, a raise of $975 from his 1919 salary. McMullin had signed for $500 a month (equivalent to $3,000 a year) as a rookie in 1916 and continued making that salary through 1919. The shortened 140-game season meant he only earned $2,625 in 1919.

Swede Risberg: $3,250, the same as his 1919 salary. Risberg had signed a two-year deal before the 1919 season.

Buck Weaver: $7,250, the same as his 1919 salary. Weaver had signed a three-year deal before the 1919 season.

Lefty Williams: $6,000, a raise of $3,375 from his 1919 base salary. According to salary records analyzed by historian Bob Hoie, there was also an off-contract agreement that Williams would receive a $500 bonus if he won 15 games in 1920 and an additional $1,000 if he won 20 games. But he was suspended in September 1920 before he could be paid the full $7,500. He did, however, receive a career-best $6,933.33.